Cats enjoy scratching cardboard, but they also don’t mind sinking their claws into couches and door frames. There are ways to discourage them from destroying your brand-new furniture (quietly weeping doesn’t help, trust me), but providing an alternative is step number one.
Among the zillions of options is Papercut Lab’s Katris, which not only entertains your cat but doubles as a piece of furniture for you. The Tetris-style pieces fit together to provide a variety of levels for your cat to climb on while also making nooks and crannies where you can store your books, or they can be used as a table.
Made of 100-percent recyclable corrugated fiberboards and SGS-certified non-toxic glue, the shapes each weigh between 6.5 and 8.6 pounds a piece. You make a base, and then choose which shapes best fit your place and your cat’s predilections. Use a clip to fasten the different shapes together, and you have a table, bookshelf, or shoe rack that cat is meant to destroy. Of course, each shape is about $50, so that’s a pretty hefty price to pay for something you expect your cat to tear to shreds. The 200-sheet structures could last over a year, though, according to its creators.
You’ll definitely want to use a coaster with this coffee table, though, as liquids and cardboard don’t really mix. Papercut Labs recommends using a vacuum to suck up your cat’s leftover fur. Just be aware that, based on some Amazon reviews, some cats might be too rotund to fit in the spaces.
The Katris reminds us a bit of Blocks by Poopy Cat. The recent Kickstarter for cardboard boxes you attach in various ways to create a cat playground was really cool, but unfortunately the company doesn’t ship to the U.S.
Fifty bucks a pop definitely isn’t cheap, but it’s also not this $2,200 Buckingham Palace cat tree.
